No running to Mysuru, C’nagar to get 40-bed ICU

Mysuru: A year after 17 people died and 104 fell ill after consuming prasada laced with poison on December 14 , 2018 at the Kichguth Maramma temple in Sulwadi, Hanur taluk, the Chamarajanagar district hospital is likely to be equipped with  a 40- bed ICU complete with ventilators and trained staff, to reduce its dependence on Mysuru for treatment of such cases.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner B.B. Cauvery said while there was a proposal to establish a tertiary care hospital with super-specialists in the district, its  immediate priority was to open an  ICU with ventilators at the existing district hospital. “It was decided at a governing council meeting chaired by the minister for medical education and additional chief  secretary, health, to build a new floor at the hospital for a 40- bed ICU , which will make the people here less dependent on Mysuru for treatment," she said.

Last year,  all 121 devotees, who ate the prasada laced with poison at the temple in Sulwadi were admitted to 12 hospitals in Mysuru as there were no tertiary care facilities, or super specialists at either private or government hospitals in Chamarajanagar. The government cleared the hefty bill of Rs 1.26 crore of the 12 Mysuru hospitals just two months ago.

Presently, Chamarajanagar district has only 15 ventilators in its hospitals, nine of which are in private hospitals in Kollegal and six in government hospitals  besides three ventilator- fitted ambulances.

Although it has been 20 years since Chamarajanagar was declared a district, over 80 per cent of its people  remain in the below poverty line category and live mainly in 514 villages, 102 hamlets on the fringes of forest and  44 hamlets in forests.